Wireless networks are typically architected with multiple base stations, each with a coverage area. Within each coverage area, mobile nodes, such as mobile phones or user equipments (UEs), may attach to the base stations and may be said to be associated with the base stations to which they are attached. Communications between base stations and attached UEs may provide access capability to attached UEs, and may be asymmetric, i.e., having different downlink and uplink speeds.
Wireless networks may also be architected with base stations organized in a mesh network. Such mesh base stations may connect to one another wirelessly to route traffic from mesh base stations that are stationed far from a high-bandwidth core network connection to mesh base stations that are closer to such connections. The use of such routing functionality among mesh base stations may thus be used to provide backhaul, i.e., connectivity to a core network and/or the public Internet, using a backhaul connection that is shared among multiple mesh base stations. When the mesh base stations are configured to be mobile or vehicle-mounted, a complete ad-hoc wireless network may be created in a short time, without the time and expense required for a typical fixed wireless network deployment, by using mobile mesh base stations configured to route traffic to the mesh base station with the shared backhaul connection.
However, there is a need for more-efficient wireless protocols for communication between mesh base stations that are designed for shared backhaul connections.